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Black smoke could be seen for miles Saturday as stacks of vehicles caught fire near the Ohio River at the Strauss Industries metal recycling plant in Benwood around 5:30 p.m., and continued burning as the sun set.
No injuries were reported in the blaze, as Benwood residents looked on from a nearby hillside neighborhood. One resident said he had just left the Highlands and could see black smoke billowing over the hillside from outside the sports complex.
Benwood Fire Chief Garson Tayor said they had many local area fire departments assisting with battling the blaze.
"We have a second round tanker task force. We have a lot of units on scene," Taylor explained. He said there were around "eight stacks of cars fully involved" on the scene and he was unaware of the cause of the fire.
Just after 8 p.m., Taylor said they had the fire under control, as they had it surrounded with many area departments that continued to douse the stacks of burning cars with water. He said Benwood and Wheeling Fire departments were assisting in spraying water on the fire from boats positioned on the river.